Back to the curious case of Michael Matheson and his £11,000 iPad bill. Despite desperate attempts by the former health secretary to stall the publication of a report into his behaviour — after Matheson tried to lump taxpayers with his ruinous roaming charges — the verdict is in. It has now been revealed that the disgraced ex-minister did indeed breach the MSP code of conduct.
Matheson’s rule-breaking charges come after he was deemed to fall short on parliamentary standards and for improper — to put it mildly — use of expenses. The investigation results, released today by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), come ahead of the publication of the full report in its entirety. It is being reviewed by Holyrood’s standards committee, which will decide if Matheson should be subject to further sanctions.
The findings raise serious questions for First Minister Humza Yousaf too, who has been accused of being ‘complicit’ in his former health secretary’s attempts to mislead parliament. ‘At best the First Minister was extremely gullible,’ said Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, ‘at worst he was complicit in covering it up.’ Scottish Labour has described the whole palaver as a ‘serious error of judgement’ as the Scottish Tories say the ‘damning’ report makes the MSP’s position untenable.
And so the saga continues. Matheson’s reputation is already in tatters, but things could get worse for him yet…
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